High-priced recruit Crichton languishes on bench in low-key debut

So when you pinch one of the NRL's rising stars from your fiercest rivals, pay him an exorbitant salary, market him as the face of an opening-round grudge match against his old club ... how do you you think it's best to use him?

Well, you don't. Or barely anyway.

Humble beginnings: Angus Crichton makes one of only three runs for the match on Friday night.Credit:NRL Photos

Angus Crichton shivered, sat huddled on the Roosters bench for 61 minutes at the SCG on Friday night. Watching, waiting, waltzing up the sideline in front of the old Members Stand. Off the pine jumped Isaac Liu, Zane Tetevano and Lindsay Collins.

And Crichton just sat there.

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Arguably the subject of the NRL's biggest summer switch, he was perhaps the most expensive non-event of the opening round, save for the Tigers' Josh Reynolds, who has been condemned to the Canterbury Cup at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.

For all the talk of the debut, well there wasn't much to talk about. Crichton eventually replaced co-captain Boyd Cordner and had just 19 minutes to impress for the premiers, who scrapped and scrambled but sunk to a 26-16 loss to the Rabbitohs.

Crichton's stats line: three runs for 35 metres and four tackles.

There will be much more to come, but as inauspicious starts come this was right up there.

The tricolours will argue they won the one that really mattered against South Sydney last year in the preliminary final, but their early-season puzzle now is how to use Crichton?

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Roosters coach Trent Robinson is a loyal type. He started Cordner and another Roosters staple Mitchell Aubusson on his edges, and put faith in them for more than an hour on a sodden night at their new home ground.

Few could argue with the decision. Aubusson scythed over in the first half, having wisely shadowed Cooper Cronk's right shoulder just a handful of minutes before half-time, before Cordner himself was denied a second-half effort when he bobbled the ball over the line.

Both were serviceable rather than spectacular. You can hardly imagine Robinson throwing away the script next week when they play the Sea Eagles at Lottoland.

When he did come on, Crichton shuffled to the left side rather than the right he owned at the Rabbitohs.

At his best, the NSW State of Origin forward was supposed to be one of the reasons the Roosters will be the first team in more than a quarter of a century to win back-to-back titles. Their fans couldn't have seen less of him in his NRL debut for the club.

Maybe Big Sam knew.

During the week, Sam Burgess goaded the Roosters about his old teammate. Was his surgically repaired shoulder even good enough to feature at length for the tricolours in the grudge match against the club which gave him his NRL chance, Burgess asked.

On Tuesday Robinson had no hesitation picking him in the 17, but only on the bench. The whispers became a little louder about Crichton's health.

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He had travelled to the United Kingdom as part of the Roosters' World Club Challenge touring party, but was never a chance to play. His brief hit-out against Manly in a trial where he captained the Roosters on the Central Coast told little more.

And the opening round even less.

Much like his club in 2019, it could be a slow burn for Crichton until he finds his feet at Bondi until Robinson finds out how to best to use a marquee recruit who on first viewing seems a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.